Read This Before You Buy and Install Drinking Water Systems and Products

Lead in Drinking Water and Plumbing Products
Before you buy and install your water bottle filling stations, or any other plumbing fixtures, be certain to verify that your new products comply with WAC 246-220, which states "All materials shall conform to the ANSI/NSF Standard 61 if in substantial contact with potable water supplies." How will you know if the products you intend to purchase comply? The EPA has put together a document that explains how to identify lead-free certification marks for drinking water systems and plumbing products.

Testing for Lead in Drinking Water at Schools
The Department of Health (DOH) has provided an informational letter, with guidance and recommendations, for testing lead in school drinking water systems. OSPI has sent this information to all school districts via memoranda M024-16. This information is being provided to you as a "best practice," not a requirement.

Healthy Kids-Healthy Schools Grants

The Legislature appropriated $5 million dollars in the 2015–17 capital budget for OSPI to administer a new grant program,
Healthy Kids–Healthy Schools. Funding for this grant program is a budget investment priority of the Healthiest Next Generation
Initiative. This grant program will help schools remove barriers and bridge the gaps that stand between best practices, processes,
and policies for improved student health.

What the grant covers
The grant supports the Healthiest Next Generation Initiative by funding improvements or renovations to existing buildings, site improvements, and the purchase and installation of new or renovated equipment.

Applications are submitted by the district and may include requests for multiple schools in multiple categories. The minimum district request is $2,500. Grant awards are limited to $200,000 per district. A maximum of $1 million will be granted for water bottle filling stations; only one station per school will be funded.

Grants are not for sports programs, operating supplies, or curriculum.

NEW Application Results and Next Steps For Awardees
OSPI’s review and scoring of 150 school district applications is complete. Preliminary grants have been made to 93 school districts. These district grants fund 466 unique school requests. Grants are for water bottle filling stations, kitchen and cafeteria equipment and improvements, including greenhouses and gardens, and indoor and outdoor physical education and activity equipment, including covered play structures and playground improvements.

Write out the answers to the narrative questions (use the word version
of the application to draft your responses so that you can cut and paste the
answers into iGrants). Provide enough detail so that a grant reviewer
understands the need, benefit, etc. Data helps convey messages.

Find the answers to the District Readiness checklist questions.

Verify that the total request does not exceed $200,000.

Get approvals, and hand off the completed word version of the
application to your grant administrator.